As an avid forum user, here's what I usually look for if I decide to stay...

1. signature - if its disabled, my level of interest would drop almost instantenous.
2. friendly people - threads filled with happy and considerate people. Cynical and rude users turn me away...
3. marketplace - have a marketplace section to keep spammers at bay...an outlet to satisfy users who want to sell without spamming other threads.

Hope this will give you forum administrators some insights...

Originally Posted by amd128

1. signature - if its disabled, my level of interest would drop almost instantenous.

Why is this??? If sigs are disabled for new users, why would that make you lose interest in the forum? Are you there just to have a sig???

Originally Posted by amd128

2. friendly people - threads filled with happy and considerate people. Cynical and rude users turn me away...

I understand that the topic title is a little "generalized". But, the OP is specifically questioning why HIS forum is dying. Did you visit it? The subject of "controversial" matter does have the tendency to spark heated debates that might not be considered "happy and considerate". It goes with the territory. (James, I'm not saying your forum is full of tirades. There are some really great discussions about many subjects.) I'm only pointing out that Pete is just another "Read The topic Title, Make A Post" kind of guy!!!

Originally Posted by amd128

3. marketplace - have a marketplace section to keep spammers at bay...an outlet to satisfy users who want to sell without spamming other threads.

Read above. Did you even visit the site???
What kind of "marketplace" would his forum have that would make things better???
Alien keychains???
JFK posters???
Sasquatch coffee mugs???
(actually, that would be kinda cool. )

I find forums cyclical.. unless i have a huge interest its hard to find one that keeps my attention

Originally Posted by Moxxnixx

Why is this??? If sigs are disabled for new users, why would that make you lose interest in the forum? Are you there just to have a sig???
I understand that the topic title is a little "generalized". But, the OP is specifically questioning why HIS forum is dying. Did you visit it? The subject of "controversial" matter does have the tendency to spark heated debates that might not be considered "happy and considerate". It goes with the territory. (James, I'm not saying your forum is full of tirades. There are some really great discussions about many subjects.) I'm only pointing out that Pete is just another "Read The topic Title, Make A Post" kind of guy!!!
Read above. Did you even visit the site???
What kind of "marketplace" would his forum have that would make things better???
Alien keychains???
JFK posters???
Sasquatch coffee mugs???
(actually, that would be kinda cool. )

No need to get upset buddy. Ive visited the forum and am just giving my opinion on a broader sense. Im sure there are other forum administrators out there viewing this thread.If my feedback is not of any value to you. So be it.No offense...

Well said vangogh, there are many factors to the decline. I just seem to get busy and I post in waves. I usually look for topics that I have a question on or an area that I have some experience with that can help someone else. If I have time I am pretty active, if not then I usually mean to but get distracted. It goes in waves for me.

Yeah I've watched people come and go from several forums over the years and while I'm generally active to the extent that I appear to always be around I go through times when I post more and less.

The only forum I check into every single day is one I own and that's because it's mine and I want to make sure to help it grow and keep out the spam as much as possible.

sometimes forums seems to die is because of lack of camaraderie of the members and lack of participation among the members mods and admins.

why won't a thread about forums dieing die?

A forum may die, but it's threads live on forever.

Maybe because we keep posting in it?

That too.

I agree that adding new content to the forum may spark new interest from visitors and members alike. Maybe changing the forum's look or template might help. I had a decent forum going for almost two years with regulars stopping by now and again, then it slipped off. My new forum is getting activity but few registering. Just got to hang in there.

As far as spammers go, there are registration adjustments that can be made to weed out the spammers and bots.

This site helps with spammers: http://www.stopforumspam.com/search

Originally Posted by jamestl2

I don't know what I've done wrong. There hasn't been a new post in roughly a month.

I thought I started off well, but but my regulars don't come by anymore, and new people interested rarely even make any appearances at all. It's like they don't care anymore. And my marketing efforts haven't gotten me anywhere.

Recently this year however, I've had a ton of spammers register and spam the boards, but me and my mod team neutralize it as quick as we can, anyways that just means that I have to moderate and approve users for now.But that's all the activity I've had, just spam, it's not very fun.

I fear I may have no choice but to just end up selling my forums, or worse yet, shutting them down completely.

You know what I have to say about all that? If you can't beat them ( your competition ) then you might as well join the 'Audience'...My point is: Sit back and relax, a forum isn't everything...

A reason could be because the number of active participants who joined forums decreased. Another thing is because of the spams that some moderator could no longer clean up.